Improved horizontal water-wheel



gUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J. T. WILDER, GREENSBURG, INDIANA.

iM PROVED HORIZONTAL WATER-WH EEL.

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J. T. WILDER, of Greensburg, in the county of Decatur, in the State of Indiana,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Turbine Vater/Vheels; and I do hereby declare the following is a full, clear, and exact description ot' the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings and letters ot' reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in eX- pending the force of a given body of moving water in the most economical and advantageous manner by the arrangement and employment of such device as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

It is an established principle in hydraulics that to utilize the greatest amount of power contained in a moving` column of water applied to a turbine water-wheel the vein of water should be so applied that when projected from any given head of water the moving stream should have its velocity so eX- pended that it should receive no shock in its application and have only sufficient motion when leaving the point of the bucket to carry it away properly. Hence to accomplish this end there have been a greatmany attempts to expend the water properly, some of which have attained a high utility.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my machine, I will now describe its construction and operation.

Figure l is a sectional view of my machine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is a perspective of the wheel, showing the form of the buckets. Fig. 4t is a view ot' the relative size of the compartments.

In Fig. 1, E E is a scroll-casing.

mis a partition, which divides the scroll-casing into two compartments, the upper one being one-third less than the lower, as shown in Fig. 4, and the width of said compartments are gradually diminished as the circle is completed, as fully represented in Fig. 1.

F represents the lower gate, which is operated by the upright shaft d, and G is the upper gate, operated by sleeve w, which sleeve extends nearly to the top of shaft d.

C C are the rear ends of the gates, which are constructed with the same curve as the scroll-casing, while their front sides are perfectly straight, as shown in Fig. 1.

P represents the outside of gate-chamber and K represents the said gate-chamber in which the ends of the gates swing.

L is the hook against which the ends of the gates rest.

D represents the wheel, which has a partition corresponding with that in the scrollcasing. The compartments thus formed by said partition in wheelD are provided withinvolute-shaped buckets, those in the upper compartment being placed midway between those in the lower.

B B represent cross-pieces, in the center of which the shaft A is secured permanently. R is a beam which affords a bearing for shaft A.

The operation of my machine is as follows: Gales G and F being so adjusted by means of shaft d and sleeve :r as to allow the water to dow upon the wheel D, the water being so projected aga-inst the buckets a a, a that it is gradually diminished in velocity and increased in volume until it is turned in the direction of the shaft A and the dischargingissues are completely filled. Then the momentum of the water being entirely expended it escapes from the issues s s s. By opening the upper gate and closing the lower onethird of the power may bc used, and by opening the lower gate and shutting the upper two-thirds of the powermay be applied, or by opening both gates all the power may be applied, thus giving three equally different capacities with one wheel and two gates.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. Constructing a waterwheel with two sets of involute buckets, whose capacities shall be in the relative proportion to each other herein fully specified, for the purpose set forth. v

2. 'Ihe combination, with a wheel such as has been described, of a casing provided with two channels of different capacities and with two gates arranged as described, the whole being constructed and operated substantially as and for the purpose specilied.

J. T. WILDER. lVitnesses:

R. C. TALBOTT, A. H. TALBorT. 

